Weekly recap and a look ahead: The Second Week of the NBA Season Has Left The Warriors With More Questions Than Answers Moving Forward
For the past five years, the Golden State Warriors have been in the top three, if not on top of the NBA's Power Rankings. Their collective defense and juggernaut offense created one of the more exciting dynastic runs that the NBA has seen in recent times.
The play of Stephen Curry powered that run, so much so that even with the departure of two time Finals MVP Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and an ACL injury to fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson, the Warriors were still viewed as a playoff team and a possible contender.
That all changed Wednesday night when the Dub's superstar took a cringey fall that ended with the Phoenix Suns big man Aaron Banes falling on his hand as he tried to catch himself from falling. That night it was announced that Curry had broken his hand, and in the following days, he had a surgery that would sideline him for three months minimum.
Yes, three months without Stephen Curry. To put it into a broader perspective, Curry will miss at least 45 games. To add insult to injury, the same day that Curry's timetable was announced, the Warriors' former Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green, tore a ligament in his left index finger in their game against the San Antonio Spurs. If things couldn't get any worse, the team's last standing offensive playmaker, D'Angelo Russell, was also injured Friday night-- being sidelined with an apparent ankle injury.
Steve Kerr is now without five key rotation players: Curry, Russell, Thompson, Green, and Kevon Looney. That group could have very well been the Dub's starting five and would have been the closing lineup. Instead, the group will sit in their best outfits on the bench rooting for the last nine standing, and at the bottom of the NBA Power Rankings for the first time since the 2010 season.
Speaking of the last nine standing, that nine does not include a single-player who held a full roster spot last season. If that doesn't sound crazy enough, then perhaps the starting lineup for Saturday's matchup against the Charlotte Hornets does. The lineup was Ky Bowman, Jordan Poole, Glenn Robinson, Eric Paschall, and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Twitter had the reaction that probably most fans were even thinking: who are these guys?
Outside of WCS, the rest of the group in the starting five and coming off the bench aren't well known, but after Saturday's game against the Hornets, they may have some respect put on their name. Despite the absence of a definite playmaker and a closer, the group managed to take the Hornets down to the wirers losing the game through their lack of execution.
Rookies Jordan Poole and Eric Paschall have shown a lot of promise in the first two weeks of the season-- Eric Paschall putting on a show in the Dub's first games without Curry. The team as a whole has shown better defensive tenacity and quicker rotations in those two games without the superstar.
If the young guns can build on that defensive foundation and create a gritty hardnose type of identity, once the main five return from their injuries, the Warriors can be extremely deep-- similar to the 2014-15 team that started the run.
If not, the Dubs will most likely look into trading for pieces to beef up their bench-- most likely going after three-and-d players. Along with that, even with the young group developing, the Dub's may very well end up with a lottery pick after this season, which will also bring in either another playmaker or a trading piece.
Until then, there is a lot of basketball left, and the status of Green and Russell is not as definitive as Curry. Monday night, the Dubs will face off against a Portland Trail Blazer team coming off of a disappointing loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Considering how the Western Conference Finals played out, Portland has most likely been waiting for this lineup before injuries hit the team. With the stars being out for the Dubs, Steve Kerr will have to get his guys to buy in defensively to avoid letting the game get out of hand.
Portland has one of the most explosive offenses in the league. With Curry and Thompson, getting into a shoot out favored the Dubs each time. Without the Splash Brothers, the Dubs will need to slow the game down to be competitive.
After Monday night's matchup, the Dubs will go down memory lane and face the Houston Rockets Wednesday night-- another team who's probably been waiting to run it back. Then the Dubs will play back to back Friday night in Minnesota then Saturday in Oklahoma.
Moving forward, the Dubs have more questions than answers. The status of Russell and Green can help find the answer to some of those questions, but the development and quickness of that development of the young group will decide if and when those questions are answered.